1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of treating the surface of an electrically conductive, preferably metallic, substrate surface with which micro-structures and nano-structures can be placed in the surface of the substrate. Typical fields of application of such a type method are leveling technical surfaces for producing highly plane surfaces, for example in the form of mirror surfaces or in the production of mechanically, electronically and/or optically effective structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generic methods for treating the surfaces of substrate surfaces, in particular the surfaces of metallic substrate surfaces, are either prior-art material-removal methods, such as for example wet chemical etching techniques or material deposition methods, such as electroplating processes, sputter or vapor deposition processes just to name a few. In all the prior-art methods the objective is to create on a to-be-processed substrate surface the necessary process conditions for the respective process, conditions that in some cases require large, complex, expensive devices. For example, in order to deposit material layers on the surface of a substrate, it is necessary to provide a corresponding vacuum chamber in which certain materials can be deposited on the surface of the substrate. A prerequisite for the use of wet-chemical deposition processes and etching processes is provision of chemical baths in which electrostatic conditions prevail which, apart from the high technical cost and effort, furthermore present safety and disposal problems.
Also prior art are planing methods for leveling the surface of a substrate based on chemo-mechanical polishing, in particular Cu surfaces in micro-electronics. In addition to this, projecting regions of material can be removed using so-called “reverse plating” by reversing electroplating deposition. This method can be employed for leveling material deposits.